Optical recording medium

ABSTRACT

An optical recording medium has a multi-layer film including a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other as a recording film. While a readout light is radiated to the optical recording medium for erasing the recording holding layer and the reproducing layer or transcribing signals magnetically recorded in the recording holding layer to the reproducing layer, the signals are converted by photomagnetic effects into optical signals which are read, or an optical recording medium having phase pits changed in reflectance with temperature. While a readout light beam is radiated to the optical recording medium and the reflectance is changed partially within a scanning spot of the readout light beam, the phase pits are read. The minimum pit interval of the recording signals along the scanning direction of the readout light beam is selected to be not more than λ/2NA, where λ is the wavelength of the readout light beam, and NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens for raising the recording line density and the recording capacity of the recording medium.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an optical recording medium from which signals may be read while the recording medium is irradiated with a light beam. More particularly, it relates to an optical recording medium in which the high density information can be reproduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An optical recording medium may be roughly classified into a read-only medium, such as a so-called compact disc, and a medium on which signals may be recorded, such as a magneto-optical disc. With these recording media, it is desired to raise the recording density further because digital video signals as recording signals are in need of a data volume several to ten times or more the data volume for digital audio signals, and also because there is a demand for further reducing the size of a product such as a player by reducing the size of the recording medium such as a disc even when recording the digital audio signals.

Meanwhile, the recording density of the optical recording medium is governed by the line density along the scanning direction of the recording tracks and the track density conforming to an interval between adjacent tracks in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction. The opto-physical limits of the line and track densities are governed by the wavelength λ of a light source and the numerical aperture NA of an objective lens. In general, a readout limit of 2NA/λ is generally accepted as a spatial frequency during signal reproduction. For this reason, for realizing high density in an optical recording medium, it is thought to be necessary to shorten the wavelength λ of the light source of the reproducing optical system, such as a semiconductor laser, and to increase the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens.

However, since there is also a limit in improving the wavelength λ of the light source or the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens, research is are under way for improving the structure of the recording medium and the reading method to increase the recording density.

The density along the scanning direction of the laser beam (direction of the recording track) and the distance between adjacent pits (the so-called line recording density and the pit recording interval as a reciprocal thereof) are considered. Theoretically, the minimum pit interval q along the beam scanning direction is given by

    q=λ/2NA

so that, for NA=0.5 and λ=780 nm (0.78 μm), the minimum pit interval q is 0.78 μm, such that signals having the pit interval shorter than this value cannot be reproduced. This minimum pit interval is 1400 pits/ram in terms .of the recording line density. However, as discussed hereinabove, there is a demand for further increasing the line density.

In view of the above described status of the art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical recording medium in which the recording line density may be further improved to increase the capacity of the recording medium.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the present invention, an optical recording medium has a multi-layer film as a recording layer, the multi-layer film having at least a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other, the recording holding layer having signals magnetically recorded therein previously, the reproducing layer having magnetic domains aligned previously, wherein, while a readout light beam is radiated to the reproducing layer of the magneto-optical recording medium for heating the reproducing layer for erasing the recording holding layer and the reproducing layer, the signals are converted under photomagnetic effects into optical signals which are read, characterized in that the minimum pit interval of the recording signals along the scanning direction of the readout light beam is selected to be not more than λ/2NA, where λ is the wavelength of the readout light beam and NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens.

In another aspect of the present invention, an optical recording medium has a multi-layer film as a recording layer, the multi-layer film having at least a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other, the recording holding layer having signals magnetically recorded therein previously, the reproducing layer having magnetic domains aligned previously, wherein, while a readout light beam is radiated to the reproducing layer of the magneto-optical recording medium for heating the reproducing layer for transcribing the signals magnetically recorded in the recording holding layer to the reproducing layer, the signals are converted under photomagnetic effects into optical signals which are read, characterized in that the minimum pit interval of the recording signals along the scanning direction of the readout light beam is selected to be not more than λ/2NA, where λ is the wavelength of the readout light beam and NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens.

In still another aspect of the present invention, an optical recording medium has phase pits formed thereon and having reflectance changed with temperature, wherein, while a readout light beam is radiated to the optical recording medium for partially changing reflectance within a scanning spot of the readout light beam, the phase pits are read, characterized in that the minimum pit, interval of the recording signals along the scanning direction of the readout light beam is selected to be not more than λ/2NA, where λ is the wavelength of the readout light beam and NA is the numerical aperture of an objective lens.

Thus, with the optical recording medium according to the present invention, the pit arraying interval along the scanning direction of a light beam such as a laser beam (so-called recording pit interval) is selected to be not larger than λ/2NA, so that the recording density in the laser beam scanning direction or the so-called line recording density may be increased for increasing the recording capacity of the recording medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a magneto-optical disc as an embodiment of the optical recording medium according to the present invention and a laser light spot on the recording medium.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a schematic arrangement of an optical system of a reproducing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a carrier level of playback signals with respect to a spatial frequency of a reciprocal of the pit recording distance.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing the state in which the laser light is radiated on an erasure type magneto-optical recording medium.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view, respectively, showing the state in which the laser light is radiated on a relief type magneto-optical recording medium.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing essential parts of an example of a phase change type optical disc according to another embodiment of the optical recording medium according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing essential parts of a further example of the phase change type optical disc shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing essential parts of another example of the above-mentioned phase change type optical disc.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a phase change state for explanation of the above-mentioned phase change type optical disc.

FIG. 10 is a view showing another phase change state for explanation of the above-mentioned phase change type optical disc.

FIGS. 11(a) and (b) are a view showing the relation between the temperature distribution and the readout light spot for explanation of the above-mentioned phase change type optical disc.

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing essential parts of a variable reflectance type optical disc as a further embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a graph showing the manner of changes in reflectance and spectral characteristics with temperature in an interference filter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings, certain embodiments of an optical recording medium according to the present invention will be explained. First, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a magneto-optical recording medium as a recordable medium, and then an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a variable reflectance optical recording medium as a recordable medium, will be explained.

The magneto-optical recording medium is comprised of a transparent or light-transmitting substrate of e.g. polycarbonate, on a major surface of which a magnetic layer having an axis of easy magnetization in a direction perpendicular to the film surface and exhibiting superior photomagnetic effects, such as a thin layer of a rare earth--transition metal alloy, are deposited together with a dielectric layer and a surface protective layer, etc. A laser beam, for example, is radiated from the side of the transparent substrate for recording and/or reproducing signals. Signals are recorded on the magneto-optical recording medium by so-called thermo-magnetic recording in which the magnetic layer is locally heated by e.g. laser light radiation to close to the Curie temperature to reduce the coercivity to zero in this region and a recording magnetic field is applied to this region from outside for magnetization in the direction of the recording magnetic field. The recorded signals may be reproduced by taking advantage of the magneto-optical effect, such as the so-called magnetic Kerr effect or Faraday effect, in which the plane of polarization of the linearly polarized light, such as laser light, is rotated in the direction of the magnetization of the magnetic layer.

The variable reflectance type optical recording medium is produced by depositing a material changed in reflectance with temperature on a transparent substrate on which phase pits are formed. During signal reproduction, the readout light is radiated on the recording medium and the reflectance is partially changed within the scanning spot of the readout light to read out the phase pits.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a medium for high density reproduction of the mixed type of the erasure and relief types as later explained is employed as a magneto-optical recording medium. This magneto-optical recording medium has, as a recording layer, an exchange-coupled magnetic multi-layer film at least including a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer. For reproducing the magneto-optical recording medium in which signals are magnetically recorded on the recording holding layer and magnetic domains in the reproducing layer are aligned, a laser light is radiated to the reproducing layer for heating the reproducing layer and signals magnetically recorded on the recording holding layer are converted by photomagnetic effects into optical signals as the signals are transcribed to the reproducing layer.

In the high density reproducing technique, shown in FIG. 1, a magneto-optical recording medium is employed in which a low-temperature area maintained in an initialized state within a beam spot SP, a high-temperature recording-relieved region FL, in which magnetization in the recording holding layer is transcribed to the surface reproducing layer, and a recording-erased region ER which has magnetization aligned in the direction of the impressed magnetic field for erasure by being further raised in temperature by temperature distribution produced by laser radiation.

That is, the laser light is radiated to the recording medium which is in the initialized state in which the information recording pits are erased for heating the recording medium for producing an elliptical recording-relieved region FL at a position slightly deviated rearward from the laser beam spot SP in the scanning direction of the laser beam. The recording-erased region ER at a higher temperature is formed within the recording-relieved region FL so that only a recording pit RP within an area not masked by the recording-erased region ER in the recording-relieved region FL, that is a signal detecting region DT, within the beam spot SP, is read.

The signal detecting region DT has a shorter pit interval along the laser light scanning direction, that is, a higher line recording density, because a distance d along the laser light scanning direction is narrower than the diameter of the beam spot SP. On the other hand, the signal detecting region DT has a small distance in a direction at right angles to the laser light scanning direction so that crosstalk from neighboring tracks may be reduced to render the pitch between neighboring tracks (so-called track pitch) p narrower to raise the track density.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, as sizes of various parts of the recording pit RP, the pitch interval in the direction at right angles to the laser light scanning direction, or so-called track pitch, is p, the shortest interval between pits arrayed along the laser light scanning direction or track direction, or the shortest pit recording period (reciprocal of the line recording density) is q and a pit width in the direction at right angles to the laser light scanning direction (radial direction of the disc) is h. Although the recording pits RP are arrayed in FIG. 5 at the above-mentioned shortest recording period q, the arraying distance (as well as the pit length along the laser light scanning direction) may naturally be changed in conformity to recording data.

A reproducing apparatus for a magneto-optical disc, which is the magneto-optical recording medium shown in FIG. 1 arranged as a disc, is schematically shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, a laser beam radiated from a semiconductor laser 11 as a laser light source is collimated by a collimator lens 12 before being transmitted via a beam splitter 13 to an objective lens 14. The magneto-optical disc 15 is the magneto-optical recording medium explained in connection with FIG. 1. The laser beam radiated via objective lens 14 is reflected by the above-mentioned magnetic multi-layer film for photomagnetic recording so as to be incident on and reflected by beam splitter 13 via objective lens 14 before being converged by a converging lens 16 so as to be incident on a photodetector, such as a photodiode 17. A magnetic head 18 for impressing a reproducing magnetic field H_(read) is arranged on the opposite surface of the magneto-optical disc 15 with respect to the laser light radiation position (the upper surface of the disc in the drawing). The wavelength λ of the laser beam is 0.78 μm, while the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens 14 is 0.5.

In FIG. 3, the spatial frequency (number of pits per mm), which is a reciprocal of the pit-recording interval along the laser beam scanning direction, is shown on the abscissa and the carrier level of the playback signals with respect to the spatial frequency is plotted on the ordinate. A curve a indicates the carrier level of the playback signals when the recording medium of the embodiment of FIG. 1 is employed, while a curve b indicates the carrier level when an ordinary optical disc is reproduced.

The C/N ratio of, for example, 50 to 40 dB, is generally accepted as being necessary for effective signal reproduction. Even if the spatial frequency is not less than 2NA/λ, that is, if the pit recording interval along the laser beam scanning direction is not more than λ/2NA, the C/N ratio is within an acceptable level of not less than 40 dB up to the spatial frequency of 3.6 NA/λ, in the case of the curve a obtained with the use of the above-mentioned high density reproducing technique. Thus, it is apparent that effective signal reproduction may be achieved even with the shortest pit recording interval of λ/2NA to improve the line density and hence the recording capacity of the recording medium.

The above-mentioned magneto-optical recording medium, capable of high density reproduction as described above, is hereinafter explained.

The present Applicant has previously proposed in e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-143041 (1989) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 1-143042 (1989) a method for reproducing information signals for a magneto-optical recording medium wherein information bits (magnetic domains) are enlarged, diminished or reduced to zero during reproduction for improving the playback resolution. The essential point of the technology consists in that the recording magnetic layer is an exchange-coupled multi-layer film composed of a reproducing layer, an intermediate layer and a recording layer, and in that the magnetic domain of the reproducing layer heated by the playback light beam during reproduction is enlarged, diminished or erased at a zone of higher temperatures for diminishing the inter-bit interference during reproduction to render it possible to reproduce signals having a period lower than the light diffraction threshold. There is also proposed in the application document of Japanese Patent Application No. 1-229395 (1989) a technology in which the recording layer of the magneto-optical recording medium is formed by a multi-layer film including a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other, the direction of magnetization is aligned in advance to an erased state, the reproducing layer is heated to a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature by radiation of the laser beam during reproduction, and in which magnetic signals written on the recording holding layer only in this heated state are read out while being transcribed on the reproducing layer to eliminate signal crosstalk to improve the line recording density and the track density.

The above-described high density reproducing technology may be roughly classified into an erasure type and a relief type, shown schematically in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B, respectively.

Referring first to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the erasure type high density reproduction technique is explained. With the erasure type, the recording medium, on which information recording pits RP are exhibited at room temperature, is heated by radiation of a laser light LB to produce a recording-erased region ER within the beam spot SP of the radiated laser beam LB, and the recording pit RP within a remaining region RD within the beam spot SP is read, by way of achieving reproduction with improved line density. In sum, this technique consists in that, when reading the recorded pit RP within the beam spot SP, the recording-erased region ER is used as a mask to narrow the width d of the read-out region RD to provide for reproduction with increased density along the scanning direction of the laser beam (track direction), that is, so-called line recording density.

The recording medium for erasure type high density reproduction has an exchange-coupled magnetic multi-layer film structure composed of an amorphous rare earth for photomagnetic recording (Gd, Tb)--iron group (Fe, Co) ferrimagnetic film. In an example shown in FIG. 4A, the recording medium has a structure in which a reproducing layer as a first magnetic film 61, an interrupting layer (intermediate layer) as a second magnetic layer 62 and a recording holding layer as a third magnetic layer 63, are deposited in this order on a major surface (the lower surface in the drawing) of a transparent substrate 60 formed of e.g. polycarbonate. The first magnetic layer (reproducing layer) 61 is e.g. a GdFeCo layer with a Curie temperature T_(c1) >400° C., while the second magnetic layer (interrupting layer or an intermediate layer) 62 is e.g. a TbFeCoAl film having a Curie temperature T_(c2) of 120° C. and the third magnetic layer (recording holding layer) is e.g. a TbFeCo layer with a Curie temperature T_(c3) of 300° C. Meanwhile, arrow marks entered in the magnetic films 61 to 63 shown at C in FIG. 4B represent the direction of magnetization of the magnetic domains. H_(read) represents the direct, ion of the reproducing magnetic field.

The reproducing operation is briefly explained. At an ambient temperature below a predetermined temperature T_(OP), the recording magnetic domain of the recording holding layer 63 is transcribed to the reproducing layer 61 by means of the interrupting layer 62. If the laser beam LB is radiated on the recording medium for raising the medium temperature, changes in the medium temperature are produced with a time delay with the scanning of the laser beam, so that a region at a temperature higher than the predetermined temperature T_(OP), that is the recording-erased region ER, Cs shifted slightly towards the rear side of the laser spot SP along the laser scanning direct, ion. At the temperature higher than the predetermined temperature T_(OP), the magnetic domains of the reproducing layer 61 are aligned in the direction of the reproducing magnetic field H_(read), with the recording pits being erased on the medium surface. In this manner, the recording of the region ER at a temperature higher than the predetermined temperature T_(OP) is masked to achieve high density reproduction.

With the relief type high density reproducing technique, shown in FIG. 5A, the recording medium in a state in which information recording pits RP are erased at ambient temperature (initialized state) is irradiated with a laser beam and thereby heated to form a signal detecting region DT, as a recording-relieved region, within the beam spot SP of the laser light beam, and only the recording pit RP within this signal detecting region DT is read for improving the playback line density.

The recording medium for such high density relief reproduction has a magnetic multi-layer structure according to magnetostatic coupling or magnetic exchange coupling. In an example shown in FIG. 5B, a reproducing layer 71 as a first magnetic layer, a reproduction assistant layer 72 as a second magnetic layer, an intermediate layer 73 as a third magnetic layer 73 and a recording holding layer 74 as a fourth magnetic layer are stacked sequentially on a major surface (the lower surface in FIG. 3) of a transparent substrate 70 formed e.g. of polycarbonate. The first magnetic layer (reproducing layer) 71 is formed e.g. of GdFeCo and has a Curie temperature T_(c1) >300° C., the second magnetic layer (reproduction assistant, layer) 72 is formed e.g. of TbFeCoAl and has a Curie temperature T_(c2) =120° C., the third magnetic layer (intermediate layer) 73 is formed e.g. of GdFeCo and has a Curie temperature T_(c3) =250° C. and the fourth magnetic layer (recording holding layer) 74 is formed e.g. of TbFeCo and has a Curie temperature T_(c4) =250° C. The arrows entered in the magnetic layers 71, 72 and 73 at C in FIG. 5B indicate the direction of magnetization in each domain, H_(in) indicates the direction of the initializing magnetic field and H_(read) the direction of the reproducing magnetic field.

The operation during reproduction is explained briefly. The domains of the reproducing layer 71 and the reproduction assistant layer 72 are aligned before reproduction in one direction (in an upward direction in FIG. 5B) by the initializing magnetic field H_(in). A reproducing magnetic field H_(read) is applied in an inverse direction while a laser light LB is radiated. With scanning by the laser light, temperature changes in the medium are produced with a delay, so that the region whose temperature exceeds a predetermined reproducing temperature T_(RP) (recording-relieved region) is shifted slightly from the beam spot SP towards the rear side along the scanning direction. With the temperature above the predetermined reproducing temperature T_(RP), coercivity of the reproduction assistant layer 72 is lowered, so that, when the reproducing magnetic field H_(read) is applied, the magnetic wall is caused to disappear so that the information of the recording holding layer 74 is transcribed to the reproducing layer 71. Thus a region within the beam spot SP which does not yet reach the reproducing temperature T_(RP) is masked and the remaining region within the beam spot SP becomes the signal detecting region (recording-relieved region) DT to permit high density reproduction.

There is also devised a high density reproducing technique consisting in a combination of the erasure type and the relief type, as shown in FIG. 1. With this technique, the laser beam is radiated to the recording medium in an initialized state thereof in which recording pits are extinct at room temperature for heating the recording medium for forming a recording-relieved region FL at a site slightly deviated towards the rear side of the beam spot of the radiating laser light, while simultaneously forming a recording-erased region of a higher temperature within the recording relieved region.

In the specification and the drawings of our co-pending Japanese Patent Application No.H 3-418110 (1991), there is proposed a signal reproducing method for a magneto-optical recording medium wherein a magneto-optical recording medium having at least a reproducing layer, an intermediate layer and a recording holding layer is employed, a laser beam is radiated and a reproducing magnetic field is applied to the reproducing layer, a temperature distribution generated by the laser radiation is utilized to produce a region where an initialized state is maintained, a region to which the information of the recording holding layer is transcribed and a region the domains of which are aligned in the direction of the reproducing magnetic field, in a field of view of the lens, to produce a state equivalent to optically masking the field of view of the lens to increase the line recording density and the track density as well as to assure satisfactory frequency characteristics at the time of reproduction, there being no risk that the region of transcription of the information of the recording holding layer be diminished or enlarged even if the reproducing power is fluctuated.

According to the above-described high density reproducing technique employing such magneto-optical recording medium, only the read region RD, which is a partial region within the recording-relieved region, or the recording pit RP within the signal detecting region DT, is read within the beam spot SP. Since the size of the read region RD or the signal detection region DT is smaller than the size of the beam spot SP, the distance between adjacent pits in the directions along and at right angles to the laser light scanning direction may be reduced to raise the recording density to increase the recording capacity of the recording medium.

The above-described embodiment is directed to an example of using a magneto-optical disc capable of recording signals. The following description is made of an embodiment of the present invention in which the invention is applied to a variable reflectance type optical recording medium.

As the technique concerning the variable reflectance optical recording medium, the present Applicant has already proposed a signal recording method for an optical disc in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application H-2-94452 (1990), and an optical disc in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application H-2-291773 (1990). In the former, a signal reproducing method for an optical disc is disclosed, whereby a readout light is radiated to an optical disc on which phase pits are formed depending on signals and which has reflectance values changed with temperatures, and the phase pits are read while the reflectance is partially changed within a scanning light spot of the readout light. In the latter, an optical disc of a so-called phase change type is disclosed, in which a layer of a material changed in reflectance with phase changes is formed on a transparent substrate which has reflectance values changed with phase changes and in which, when the disc is irradiated with the readout light, the layer partially undergoes phase changes within the scanning spot of the readout light and is reset after readout is terminated.

The material of the layer is preferably such a material in which a layer of a phase change material which may be crystallized after being melted and which, when the layer is irradiated with the readout light, is changed into a liquid phase within the scanning spot of the readout light within a melted and crystallized region so as to be changed in reflectance and is reset to a crystallized state after readout is terminated.

Referring to a schematic cross-sectional view of FIG. 6, showing the phase change type optical disc, a layer of a phase change material 104 is formed via a first dielectric layer 103 on a transparent substrate 102 on which phase pits 101 are formed (on the lower side in the drawing), a second dielectric layer 105 is formed on the layer 104 (on the lower side in the drawing, hereinafter the same) and a reflecting layer 106 is formed on the second dielectric layer. Optical characteristics, such as reflectance, are set by these first and second dielectric layers 103 and 105. If necessary, a protective layer, not shown, may be additionally deposited on the reflecting layer 106.

As alternative constitutions of the phase change type optical discs, only the phase change material 104 may be intimately deposited directly on the transparent substrate 102 on which pits 101 are formed, as shown in FIG. 7, or a first dielectric layer 103, a phase change material layer 104 and a second dielectric layer 105 may be sequentially formed on the tansparent substrate 102 on which phase pits 101 are formed, as shown in FIG. 8.

The transparent substrate 102 may be a substrate of synthetic resin, such as a glass substrate, polycarbonate or methacrylate. Alternatively, a photopolymer layer may be deposited on the substrate and phase pits 101 may be formed by a stamper.

The phase change material may be such material which undergoes partial phase changes within a scanning spot of the readout light and is reset after readout and the reflectance of which is changed with phase changes. Examples of the material include calcogenites, such as Sb₂ Se₃, Sb₂ Te₃, that is chalcogen compounds, other calcogenites or unitary calcogenites, that is calcogenitic materials, such as Se or Te, calcogenites thereof, such as BiTe, BiSe, Tn--Se, Tn--Sb--The, Tn--SbSe, Zn--Se--Tl, Ge--The--Sb or Ge--The. If the phase change material phase 104 is constituted by chalcogen or calcogenite, its characteristics, such as heat: conductivity or specific heat, may be optimized for providing a satisfactory temperature distribution by the semiconductor laser readout light. Besides, the melted state in the melted and crystallized region as later explained may be established satisfactorily to generate ultra-high resolution with high S/N or C/N ratios.

The first dielectric layer 103 and the second dielectric layer 105 may be formed of, for example, Si₃ N₄, SiO, SiO₂, AlN, Al₂ O₃, ZnS or MgF₂. The reflective layer 106 may be formed of Al , Cu, Ag or Au, admixed with minor amounts of additives, if desired.

As a concrete example of the phase change type optical disc, an optical disc having an arrangement shown in FIG. 6 is explained. With this optical disc, a layer of a material which may be crystallized on being melted is formed on a transparent substrate on which phase pits are formed. When a readout beam is radiated, the layer of the phase change material is partially liquefied in a melted and crystallized region within the readout scanning beam spot and is reset after readout of a crystallized state.

A so-called glass 2P substrate was used as the transparent substrate 102 of FIG. 6. Phase pets 101 formed on a major surface of the substrate 102 were of a track perch of 1.6 μm, a pit depth of about 1200 Å and a pit width of 0.5 μm. A first dielectric layer 103 of AlN was deposited on one major surface of the transparent substrate 102 having these pits 101, to a thickness of 900 Å, and a layer of a phase change material 104 of Sb₂ Se₃ was deposited on the layer 103 on the lower surface thereof in the drawing, hereinafter the same. A second dielectric layer 105 of AlN was deposited thereon and an Al reflective layer 106 was deposited thereon to a thickness of 300 Å.

The following operation was performed on a portion of the optical disc free from recorded signals, that is a mirror-surface part thereof free from phase pits 101. A laser beam of e.g. 780 nm was radiated to be focused on a point of the optical disc which was then initialized by being allowed to cool gradually. The same point was then irradiated with a laser pulse with a laser power P set to 0<P≦10 μm. The pulse width was set to 260 nsec≦t≦2.6 μm. The result is that, if the reflectance is changed between two sol id phase states before pulse irradiation and after pulse irradiation followed by cooling to room temperature, the layer is changed from a crystal state to an amorphous state. If the reflectance is not changed during this operation, but the amount of return beam is once changed during radiation of the pulse light, it is an indication that the film of the crystal state is once liquefied and again crystallized. The region in the melted state which has once become liquid and which may be returned to the crystallized state with lowering of temperature is termed a melted and crystallized region.

FIG. 9 shows the phase states of the layer of the phase change material 104 of Sb₂ Se₃ and values of a pulse width of the radiated laser pulse plotted on the abscissa and the laser beam intensity plotted on the ordinate. In this figure, a hatched area R₁ below a curve a indicates a region in which the layer of the phase change material 104 is not melted, that is maintained in its initial state. In this figure, the region above curve a becomes liquid, that is melted, on laser spot irradiation. A region between curves a and b is the melted and crystallized region which is reset to a crystal state when cooled to about the ambient temperature by elimination of the laser beam spot and thereby turned into a solid phase. Conversely, a cross-hatched region R₃ above curve b is a melted amorphous region which is rendered amorphous when cooled and turned into a solid phase by elimination of the laser beam spot.

In the present embodiment, the reproducing laser intensity, optical disc constitution, material and the film thicknesses are selected so that, in the course of cooling to ambient temperature from the heated state caused by readout light irradiation during reproduction, the time Δt which elapses since the heated state brought about by irradiation of the readout beam during reproduction until cooling to ambient temperature becomes longer than the time necessary for crystallization, so that the state of liquid phase in the melted and crystallized region R₂ in FIG. 9 will be produced during reproduction.

In the present embodiment, the-reflectance in the initial state, that is in the crystallized state, was 57%, whereas that in the melted state was 16%. When reproduction was performed with the playback power of 9 mW and the linear velocity of 3 m/sec, the ratio C/N was 25 dB.

FIG. 10 shows the results of measurement of the phase change states for another example of the phase change type optical disc making use of Sb₂ Te₃ as a phase change material 104, similarly to FIG. 9. In FIG. 10, the parts corresponding to those of FIG. 9 are indicated by the same reference numerals. In the present example, making use of Sb₂ Te₃, the reflectance in the crystallized state, that is initial state, was 20%, while that in the melted state was 10%.

Meanwhile, with calcogenites of chalcogens, such as Sb₂ Se₃ or Sb₂ Te₃, the reflectance for the amorphous state is substantially equal to that in the melted state. The optical disc employed in the present embodiment is reproduced with an ultra-high resolution by taking advantage of temperature distribution within the scanning spot on the optical disc. Referring to FIG. 11, explanation is given of the case in which a laser light beam is radiated on the phase change type optical disc.

In FIG. 11, the abscissa indicates a position of the beam spot relative to the scanning direction X. A beam spot SP formed on the optical disc on laser beam radiation has a light intensity. distribution as indicated by a broken line a. On the other hand, temperature distribution in the layer of the phase change type material 104 is shifted slightly rearward relative to the beam scanning direction X, as indicated by a solid line b, in association with the scanning speed of the beam spot SP. If the laser beam is scanned in the direction shown by arrow X, the optical disc as a medium is gradually raised in temperature, from the distal side relative to the scanning direction of the beam spot SP, until finally the temperature becomes higher than the melting point MP of the layer 104. In this stage, the layer 104 is in the melted state, from its initial crystal state, and is lowered in e.g. reflectance, as a result of transition to the melted state. The reflectance of a hatched region P_(X) within the beam spot SP is lowered. That is, the region P_(X) in which the phase pit 101 can hardly be read and a region P_(Z) remaining in the crystallized state exist within the beam spot SP. That is, even when two phase pits 101, for example, exist in one and the same spot SP as shown, it is only the phase pit 101 present in the high reflectance region P_(Z) that can be read, whereas the other phase pit 101 is present in the region P_(X) with extremely low reflectance and hence cannot be read. In this manner, only the single phase pit 101 can be read even though plural phase pits 101 exist in the same spot SP. Therefore, if the wavelength of the readout beam is λ and the numerical aperture of the objective lens is NA, readout can evidently be made satisfactorily even with the shortest phase pit interval of the recording signals along the scanning direction of the readout beam of not more than λ/2NA, so that signals can be read with ultra-high resolution to increase the recording density, above all, the line density, and hence the recording capacity of the recording medium.

In the above embodiment, operating conditions, such as film thicknesses, are set so that the reflectance is low or high when the layer of the phase change material 104 is in the melted state or in the crystallized state, respectively. However, the thickness or the constitution of each layer or the phase change material may be so set that the reflectance becomes high or low in the melted state or in the crystallized state, respectively, in which case a phase pits may be present in the high temperature region P_(X) in the laser spot, SP shown in FIG. 11 so that only this phase pit in the high temperature region P_(X) is read. In the case of an irreversible phase change in which a region is raised in temperature by laser beam irradiation to reach the melted and crystallized region R₃ such that it cannot be reset, to the initialized state or crystallized state even if cooled to ambient, temperature, it is only necessary t,o perform some initializing operation without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, by radiating an elliptical spot after the reproducing laser spot, for heating the layer 104 to the melted and crystallized region R₂, or by heating to a temperature lower than the melting point MP and not lower than the crystallization temperature, the layer 104 may be initialized by being reset from the amorphous state to the crystallized state.

Although the reflectance is changed in the above embodiment by phase changes of the recording medium, the reflectance may be changed by taking advantage of any other phenomenon. Thus, for example, the reflectance may be changed by temperature by taking advantage of changes in spectral characteristics caused by moisture adsorption by an interference filter according to a modified embodiment shown in FIG. 12.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, materials with markedly different refractive indices are repeatedly deposited on a transparent substrate 132, on which phase pits 131 are formed, to thicknesses equal to one fourth of the wavelength λ of the reproducing light, for forming an interference filter. In the present embodiment, an MgF layer 133 (with a refractive index of 1.38) and an ZnS layer 134 (with a refractive index of 2.35) are used as the materials with markedly different refractive indices. However, any other combinations of the materials having larger differences in refractive indices may be employed. For example, SiO having a lower refractive index of 1.5 may be used as a low refractive index material, and TiO₂ with a refractive index of 2.73 or CeO₂ with refractive index of 2.35 may be used as a high refractive index material.

The above-mentioned MgF layer 133 or the ZnS layer 134 are deposited by evaporation. If the reached vacuum is set to a value of e.g. 10⁻⁴ Torr which is lower than a usual value, the film structure becomes porous to permit the moisture to be captured. With the interference filter formed by a film which thus has captured the moisture, the reflectance and spectral characteristics are changed markedly between the state in which the filter is at room temperature and the state in which the filter is heated to close to the boiling point of water, as shown in FIG. 13. That is, an acute wavelength shift is observed, in which the spectral characteristics at room temperature are as shown by a curve i having a point of inflection at a wavelength λ_(R) while the characteristics at approximately the boiling point are as shown by a curve ii having a point of inflection at wavelength λ_(H) and returned to the characteristics shown by curve i on lowering the temperature. This phenomenon may be probably caused by acute changes in refractive index due to vaporization of the moisture resulting in changes in spectral characteristics. Therefore, if the wavelength of the light source of the reproducing light is selected to a wavelength λ_(O) intermediate between these points of inflection λ_(R) and λ_(H) , the reflectance is dynamically changed between the state of room temperature and the heated state.

In the present embodiment, high density reproduction is performed by taking advantage of these changes in reflectance. The mechanism of high density reproduction is described in connection with FIG. 11. In this case, the region in which the moisture is vaporized to produce a wavelength shift corresponds to the high reflectance region, while the portion of the medium in which the temperature is not raised is the mask region. In the present embodiment, the reflectance characteristics are reverted to the original state when the temperature is lowered, so that no particular erasure operation is required.

It is to be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but may be applied to, for example, a card- or sheet-shaped optical recording medium besides the disc-shaped recording medium. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An optical recording medium having a multi-layer film as a recording layer, said multi-layer film having at least a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other, said recording holding layer having signals previously magnetically recorded therein, said reproducing layer having magnetic domains previously aligned, wherein the reproducing layer of the optical recording medium is radiated with a readout beam for heating the reproducing layer for erasing said recording holding layer and said reproducing layer, said signals are converted under photomagnetic effects into optical signals which are read, the optical recording medium further comprising:a minimum pit interval of said magnetically recorded signals along a scanning direction of said readout beam wherein the minimum pit interval is no more than λ/2NA, where λ is wavelength of the readout light beam and NA is numerical aperture of an objective lens and further wherein phase pits are constructed and arranged such that the phase pits are read while reflectance within a scanning area of the readout beam is changed.
 2. An optical recording medium having a multi-layer film as a recording layer, said multi-layer film having at least a reproducing layer and a recording holding layer magnetically coupled to each other, said recording holding layer having signals previously magnetically recorded therein, said reproducing layer having magnetic domains previously aligned, wherein the reproducing layer of the optical recording medium is radiated with a readout beam for heating the reproducing layer for transcribing the signals magnetically recorded in said recording holding layer to said reproducing layer, said signals are converted under photomagnetic effects into optical signals which are read, the optical recording medium further comprising:a minimum pit interval of said magnetically recorded signals along the scanning direction of said readout beam wherein the minimum pit interval is no more than λ/2NA, where λ is wavelength of the readout beam and NA is numerical aperture of an objective lens and further wherein phase pits are constructed and arranged such that the phase pits are read while reflectance within a scanning area of the readout beam is changed.
 3. An optical recording medium comprising:phase pits formed thereon wherein reflectance thereof changes with temperature and further wherein the phase pits are constructed and arranged such that, while the optical recording medium is radiated into a readout beam for partially changing the reflectance within a scanning spot of the readout beam, said phase pits are read; and a minimum pit interval of recording signals along the scanning direction of said readout beam wherein the minimum pit interval is no more than λ/2NA, where λ is wavelength of the readout beam and NA is numerical aperture of an objective lens. 